Alaska Economic Trends are searchable from 1978 to the present using the Trends search page. The search can include any combination of the title or subtitle, date or date range, author, or full text.

July 2015

The Cost of Living in Alaska

The cost of living in Alaska has been a topic of lore and fascination since the state’s beginnings. During the gold rush days, writers lamented the often astronomical expense of goods in the territory compared to the rest of the nation — for example, a pound of canned butter during the Klondike Gold Rush was $5, or about $142 in today’s dollars.July 2015 Trends

June 2015

Juneau's Housing Market

Juneau is full of historically and politically important homes. The National Register of Historic Places includes the governor’s mansion, completed in 1912, the summer cabin of territorial governor Ernest Gruening at Amalga Harbor, built in 1947, and the Wickersham house, home of one of Alaska’s most notable judges and statesmen, built in 1898.June 2015 Trends

May 2015

Caring for Alaska's Animals

At first glance, animal care employment in Alaska looks a lot like it does in the rest of the country. With a similar mix of veterinarians, groomers, and pet store workers, it’s a comparably small slice of Alaska’s total job count. But Alaska often differs in what its animals need and what it takes to reach them.May 2015 Trends

April 2015

Population - New Estimates

Alaska’s population is in constant flux. Each year, thousands of Alaskans are born, thousands die, tens of thousands move to and from the state, and everyone who lives here ages.

The most recent official estimates put Alaska’s population at 735,601 in July 2014. That’s a loss of just 61 people from July 2013, but it’s notable because it was the first time in more than 25 years that Alaska’s population declined.April 2015 Trends

March 2015

Foreign-Born Alaskans

More than 60 percent of Alaskans were born outside the state — that’s more than all other states except retiree-heavy Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. While many Alaskans were born elsewhere in the country, an increasing number were born outside the United States.March 2015 Trends

February 2015

Juneau Neighborhoods

The City and Borough of Juneau covers 3,255 square miles, making it the largest state capital and the second-largest city in the nation by area, after Sitka. Most of that area is uninhabited, however, and Juneau’s entire population of about 33,000 is distributed along a narrow sliver of coastal land between its namesake ice field and the waters of the Inside Passage.February 2015 Trends

January 2015

Employment Forecast for 2015

Alaska is not expected to gain jobs in 2015, as the state faces downward pressure from low oil
prices and tightened government budgets. Net job growth is expected to be flat after an estimated 0.3
percent gain in 2014.January 2015 Trends